Following the amendment to the Quarto Conto Energia, GIFI, the Italian PV Industry Association, has said manufacturers are rising up to urge the government to repeal its decision on cutting FiTs for solar plants on agricultural land. Panic has spread through the PV manufacturing industry, where already financed projects will now not provide as much of a return as under the original legislation.

Solar-power stations take up a lot of room.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc said on Tuesday it has not firmed up plans to build solar power plants in Japan because the government there has yet to determine a key solar subsidy.

According to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the global new solar capacity grew 54% to nearly 28GW in 2011 with Germany and Italy leading in installations.

Advocates of renewable energy say an electricity supergrid could enhance the clean-power industry by connecting power sources like wind farms in Scotland and solar arrays in Spain or North Africa to the population centers of Europe.

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, yesterday expressed his country's interest in collaborating with the UAE on renewable energy projects.

Renewable energy companies are hoping the World Future Energy Summit, which opens in Abu Dhabi today, will help answer that question.

Located within the equatorial "Sun Belt," where more solar radiation hits the earth than any other part of the globe, best available measurements are that Saudi Arabia receives an average 2,200 thermal kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy per square meter of land area every day.

Charging a mobile phone by simply using a solar charging panel on the back cover is possible but challenging, Nokia has concluded after ending a research project on the subject.

LDK Solar Co. (LDK)'s plan to buy Germany's Sunways AG (SWW) provides China's second-largest solar-panel maker with access to new technology and a distribution network in the world's biggest photovoltaic market.

Adding to a recent US Department of the Interior (DoI) announcement of two new renewable energy projects being approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the construction of a further two projects - a utility-scale solar power plant in California and a transmission line for a wind farm in Oregon.